“Love all your fellow men, even your enemies. This is the most basic thing. Always love not only those who love us, but also those who hate us. Let us forgive them and love them all even if they have done us the greatest evil; then we are truly children of God. Then our own sins are also forgiven.”
Saint George Karslides
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“Of all the words, the most difficult is ‘Forgive me’. But it is this that opens the Heavenly Gates.”
Monk Simeon of Mount Athos
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“If you are truly merciful, then when what is yours is unjustly taken, don’t be sad inside, and do not tell of our loss to your neighbour. Let a better loss, inflicted by those who insult you, be absorbed by your mercy.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“Lord, I thank You that through this person, you are showing me how far my heart is from You and I cannot keep my peace.”
A Prayer to overcome ones enemy, by Saint Sophrony of Essex
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“My joy put your trust in God and ask for His help, but know how to forgive your neighbour – and you will be given all that you ask.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“Why do you go to Church every day, and yet you haven’t made up with your children?”
Saint George Karslides
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“The forgiveness of insults is a sign of true love, free from hypocrisy. For thus the Lord also loved this world.”
Saint Mark the Ascetic
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“Grant us, O Lord, if we are unable to love our enemies, at least to forgive them.”
Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
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“You feel freedom when the behaviour of others does not bother you and you forgive them.”
Saint Gavrilia, the Ascetic of Love
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“If you store up grievances and nurse old animosities, and then try to Pray, you are like a person going to draw water with a bucket full of holes.”
Saint Evagrios of Pontus
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“The rememberance of wrongs is the daughter of pride. Forgiveness is the mother of peace.”
Saint Isaac the Syrian
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“If a man insults me, kills my father, my mother, my brother, and then gouges out my eye, as a Christian it is my duty to forgive him. We who are pious Christians ought to love our enemies and forgive them. We ought to offer them food and drink, and entreat God for their Souls. And then we should say: ‘My God, I beg you to forgive me, as I have forgiven my enemies.'”
Saint Kosmas Aitolos
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“Forgiveness is better than revenge.”
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
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“Do not forget to send gifts to those who hurt you.”
Saint Seraphim of Sarov
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“If you have anything against any man, forgive it: you come here to receive forgiveness of sins, and thou also must forgive him that has sinned against you. Else with what face will you say to the Lord, ‘Forgive me my many sins’, if you have not yourself forgiven your fellow-servant even his little sins.”
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
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“The Christian who loves all people has a great reward, especially if he forgives those who do him evil. For if we don’t love our neighbour, all the good works we do will be worthless. They amount to nothing, we will be worthless. Love, my brethren. God requires love from us.”
Saint George Karslides
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“… All people are weak, all have passions, and we must forgive each other.”
Saint Barsanuphius of Optina
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“When someone in sickness or old age hurts you with his words, do not listen, but help them. Help them in every way you can; help with diligence and good faith, and forgive them for everything they have said or done.”
Saint Matrona of Moscow, the Blind
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“Forgiveness is better than revenge.”
Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk
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“Love forgives many mistakes, while hatred imagines mistakes even where they do not exist…”
Saint John Chrysostom
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“Remembrance of Jesus’ passion will heal your Soul of resentment, by making it ashamed of itself when it remembers the patience of the Lord. Some people have wearied themselves and suffered for a long time in order to extract forgiveness. By far the best course, however, is to forget the offences, since the Lord says: “Forgive at once and you will be forgiven in generous measure.” (cf. Luke 6:37-38)”
Saint John Climacus
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“The sign of sincere love is to forgive wrongs done to us. It was with such love that the Lord loved the world.”
Saint Kosmas Aitolos
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“What is the use of man in all his worldly learning, if he can not forgive his neighbour with one insulting word or glance?”
Saint Nikolai Velimivoric
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“A Christian should not know a single enemy in the world, even if the world did not give him a single friend.”
Saint Philaret of Moscow
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“The first and most essential means of making peace with those who offend and persecute us is to Pray for them, according to the Commandment of Christ.”
Saint Leo of Optina
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“Love all your fellow men, even your enemies. This is the most basic thing. Always love not only those who love us, but also those who hate us. Let us forgive them and love them all even if they have done us the greatest evil; then we are truly children of God. Then our own sins are also forgiven…Always preach love. This is the most basic law of God: love and love alone.”
Saint George Karslides
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